The Cherry Blossoms Flame
by That-Book-Worm2818
Summary: Sakura wasn't born in Kohona she was adopted by the Harunos after being Found 5 years old & wandering about the forest they fell in love with her & took her in after finding she had lost her family. 12 years late Sakura is sent on a mission to a different world tasked with creating an alliance between the Land of Fire & Fiore. On the mission she finds her brother. what will happen
1. Chapter 1

**A/N I don't own Naruto or Fairytail (unfortunately) I hope you enjoy this :)**

"Haruno-San, you're needed in theatre!" A nurse called as she hurried alongside me, she was pretty in the traditional way, long black hair tied up into a pony-tail and wide blue eyes that looked- at this moment- exhausted. I recognised her as Hanna Aoki, she was a hard working girl who I got on well with we had often eaten together at lunch.

"Give me a run down." My voice was curt, as I took the file from her and scanned over the patient's notes.

"His team brought him in. They were traveling through Tea when they were attacked by rogues. His right leg has a deep gash, and he's lost a lot of blood, we're in the process of a blood transfusion." She paused for a moment then put her hand on my arm, "He's my sister's husband, Haruno-san. It would kill her to lose him."

"Aoki-Chan, you don't need to worry. He's in good hands." I smiled at her,

"The thing is, the kunai that slashed his leg was dipped in poison and we can't I.D it." We were pushing our way in through the theatre doors, "We don't know if it's just paralysing, hallucinogenic or if it's fatal."

"Hanna, go home to your sister and comfort her, you've been here since six this morning besides he's your family, and you technically shouldn't even be in this room." My voice was low so as not to draw attention to us.

"Thankyou." Her voice was relieved and tears welled up in her eyes.

"I'll let you know how it goes." I told her before turning to the patient to examine the damage.

XxXxX _2 hours Later_ XxXxX

I stepped back from the operating table and grinned up at the doctor who had been scrubbing for me, "He's going to be okay." I sighed pulling the bloodied rubber gloves off my hands and disposing of them, "He may have some scarring but that's to be expected from a wound like that."

"You can go home if you want to Haruno-san," Kai (the doctor) told me a small smile on his lips as he put things away- there was something about having an operation go successfully that gave you an adrenaline boost and made you feel like you were walking on air.

"What about you?" I asked pulling my shoulder length pink hair out of its bun.

"I started just as this one came in. I'm on nights this week." He told me as we signed for the porter to take our patient to recovery.

"Well good luck, and I'm on call if anyone needs me!" I called over my shoulder as I left, "Goodnight."

"Goodnight, Haruno-san." I heard as I headed towards the changing room.

 _Two O'clock already?_ I thought as I grabbed my bag from the lockers, deciding I'd change when I got home, _better go tell Hanna and her sister that Ken-san is okay._

I inhaled deep as I stepped out into the crisp night air. I hadn't been outside since I walked to work this morning. I turned right and headed towards the Aoki household, I had been there once before when Hanna's sister (Lucy) had given birth to her son at home, she hadn't been able to make it to the hospital. Feeling only slightly guilty that I was waking them up I knocked on the door.

"Coming!" Hanna's muffled voice shouted. The door opened to reveal the young woman, her hair loose from it pony-tail hung around her like a cloak, "Oh Sakura-san, come in."

"I really can't, I need to get home or my roommate will worry." I said giving her an apologetic smile.

"Hanna who's at the door?" a soft voice asked from the stairs. Looking up I saw Lucy holding her sleeping son, her blue eyes were red from crying and her short black hair was mussed up as though she had been running her hands through it.

"Hi, Lucy." I said smiling at her, "I've come with some good news." I lowered my voice as she got closer to the front door, I didn't want to wake the baby, "Ken-san will be okay, he's in recover at the moment but he should be out tomorrow afternoon."

As soon as I said the words the two women broke out into relieved smiles and stated to thank me, I had to refuse several offers of tea explaining that I needed to get home before I headed off.

"Thank you again." Lucy said adjusting her hold on her son so she could kiss me on the cheek.

"I was only doing my job." I told her, "Goodnight, hopefully you'll rest easy now."

Waving one last time I headed in the direction of my apartment, an exhausted sigh escaped my lips when I remembered all the stairs I would have to climb.

"Want me to carry you?" a deep voice asked as I drew near to the apartment, "You look exhausted."

Shikamaru Nara came out of the shadows his demeanour was relaxed but I could see his eyes darting over my face in concern, "You shouldn't work yourself so hard."

"This is me taking it easy." I joked as went in for a hug. Shika and I had become closer over the years. When Naruto and Kakashi-sensei went off to search for Sasuke-kun I had been a wreck. I wouldn't eat and I had begged Tsunade-Sama to let me go after him. Eventually she had realised that I needed to be distracted and had given me the task of finding cures for some poisons that an underground gang had gotten hold off. Shikamaru happened to be on the same mission and we became good friends. Despite what some people think (cough Jiraiya-sensei cough) our relationship was purely platonic, in fact I was trying to get him with Tamari because they would be so good together, (in my opinion anyway).

"Well then maybe you should take some of that leave you've been building up." He said, I could hear the concern in his voice, "You're not going to be any help if you're in the hospital being treated for chakra exhaustion."

"You're right." I conceded, "I'll talk to Tsunade-Sama tomorrow morning."

I saw his teeth flash in the dark, "No need, I've already sorted it for you. She was shoving the papers in my hands before I finished speaking."

"You sneaky son of a-" I was cut off when he picked me up and jumped up to our balcony, it was one of the reasons we bought the apartment, he set me back on my feet on the living room carpet.

"Off to bed with you. And if you try to go to work before your leave is up I will take away all your medical books." He said it with a smile but I knew he was completely serious,

"Okay _dad,"_ I smirked and hurried into my room in a short lived spur of energy, I landed on my bed and without even bothering to change, I fell asleep.


	2. Chapter 2

The next day I woke up at eleven and immediately rushed into the bathroom to get changed and wash up. As I stood under the hot spray of water I mulled over what I should do now that I didn't have to go into work for three weeks.

"I could move the pictures from my room at my Mums house over here." I mused out loud as lathered cherry scented shampoo into my hair. I only used scented soaps when I was working at the hospital or on a day off, never when I was on a mission- I once had to treat a Chunin for third degree burns and multiple lacerations after she had been found by the ninja she had been tailing all because he could smell her perfume.

After a few more minutes in the shower I decided that I would finish moving my things from my parents' house to the apartment, we had lived here just under a year and I still hadn't finished moving things across, mainly because I got caught up at the hospital.

Pulling on some spandex shorts and over-sized red t-shirt that mimicked my regular attire I headed out, my old home was only a two minute walk away so it didn't take long to arrive,

"Mum, Dad?" I called as I entered the house, I knew straight away my mother was in the kitchen, I could smell fresh bread.

"Sakura, honey, how are you?" Mum asked as she pulled me into a floury hug, "you haven't stopped by in a while, how are things at the hospital?"

"Things are good, I've got three weeks leave because everyone thinks I'm over working myself." I told her as I washed my hands, preparing to help her with the baking.

"Don't you dare try to help, missy, this is the first holiday you've had in a while and I want you to relax." Mum said as she playfully smacked my hands away, "Go tell your dad to come in for a drink, he's been at that rose patch for a good hour and half and he needs something to drink."

I nodded and headed into the back garden, it wasn't hard to miss dad. He was a big man with broad shoulders and a mass of dark brown hair, "Daddy!" I called watching as his head snapped round to look at me, a wide grin crept over his face,

"If it isn't my little cherry blossom!" He bellowed, his eyes smiling, "Come here baby girl and give your old man a hug."

I immediately rushed over and hugged him, feeling the familiar safe feeling I always got from his cuddles. "Mum wants you to get something to drink," I said looking up at him, "And I want you to come into the shade and rest, you're going to get sunburn." I told him and pulled him toward the house.

"It's like you never left." He joked placing a kiss on my head before doing the same to mum who thrusted a glass of water into hand and to him to "drink up."

"So three weeks off is a long time, can they spare you?" Dad asked once we were sat in the living room. We sat on the floor just like when I was a little girl, dad was leaning against the couch and mum had her head resting on his shoulder while I lay on my back with my head on my mums lap so she could braid my hair.

"If they need me, like for an emergency, I'll get called in but I doubt anything will happen it's been quiet lately." I said opening an eye to look at dad.

"What are you going to do with yourself?" Mum asked, moving her head so I could see her brown eyes.

"I don't know, I thought I'd finish moving my stuff over to the apartment but after that I can't think of anything."

It was quiet for a moment and the dad sat up, struck by an idea, "We'll help you move your things and sort stuff out, then we could go grab some ice-cream up at the monument." His grin was contagious and I found myself sitting up to look at my smiling parents,

"It can be family time like we used to do." Mum said and I nodded causing my hair to bounce around my face.

"Let's do it!" I called and raced up to my room.

My old room was multiple shades of pink with some red and white thrown in for good measure, old photos still lined one wall and my wardrobe stood open and empty. Dad clapped his hands and sanded them together.

"Right. What do you need?" He asked looking around the room.

"Well you don't need the wardrobe, you've got that walk in closet." A hint of mock envy laced her tone and she smiled at me, "What about your vanity table and bedside tables?"

"Yeah my room needs those." I said realising that apart from the bed and a bookcase my room was empty, "And I defiantly want to take those pictures."

"We'll move the furniture first and then we'll spend some time taking those photos down. It'll be nice for you to look through old memories." Mum said kissing me on the cheek.

It only took half an hour to move the vanity table and bedside tables into the apartment and currently mum and I were sat on my old bed going through old photos.

"I remember taking this one," Mum said holding up a phot of ten year old Ino and Me smiling at the camera with 100 watt smiles and clutching a large bouquet of flowers, "You had worked hard on that bunch of flowers for the Hokage's birthday. You two were so proud of yourselves."

I placed the picture into a box dad had brought up earlier. The fuller it got, the barer my wall got. A twinge of sadness tugged at my chest,

"I love you, you know that don't you?" I asked looking at my mum.

"Of course I do. And we love you too. I'm so glad we have you." Her brown eyes filled with tears and we hugged it out as we started to sob.

"What's going on here?" Dad's voice asked from the doorway, "I leave you two alone for five minutes and I come back up and my girls are crying." He made his way over, his long legs eating up the distance.

"It's just I feel like by taking the photos down I'm acknowledging that I'm growing up. And it scares me." I admitted.

"It scares us too." Mum said softly kissing my hair, "I remember when I first saw you. You were so small and you had the biggest green eyes. Still do."

Something only a few people knew about me was that I was adopted by the Haruno family. Mum had found out that she couldn't have children and had been distraught, she'd always dreamed of starting a family and that had been taken away from her. Then about a week after that news she and dad (they had been ninjas – Jonin) were sent on a mission to eliminate a group of rouge ninjas who had been attacking civilian villages, they had successfully completed their task and had been heading home when they found my in the clearing about two miles from Kohona. Apparently I had been wandering around with only the clothes on my back and a picture clutched in my hand, I had walked up to them, held the photo up to them and said, "Help." I never said anything more than a few wrods at a time and had been taken back to the Hokage who had sent a search team out for my family. They hadn't been found and so the Haruno's took me in as their own and enrolled me at the ninja academy.

Dad pulled me in for a hug that broke my train of thought, "You're our baby girl, always have been, always will be."

"Love you." I whispered, and my eyes travelled back to the wall where only three photos stayed, one of team 7, a photo of me, mum and dad. And the photo I had been clutching when I was found.

Mum was looking at the photo as well, "Do you remember their names?" She asked as she stood up to pull it down, "You used to tell stories about them all the time."

"I still remember," I smiled sadly, "Want me to tell you?"

"Yes please." Her voice was little more than a whisper, I think she liked it liked it when I told her about them because it gave her the opportunity to imagine she had a bigger family.

Taking the picture I started to point out the familiar faces, "That one's Erza Scarlett, she always took charge and her temper was very similar to Tsunade-samas. The one with dark hair is Gray he was always taking his clothes off." We sat there for ages as I recounted all my memories, "And finally that one there, is my big brother Natsu. He was kind of like Naruto, always wanting to eat and fight and have a good time, but he was serious about his family and friends."

"I remember one time, it wasn't long after you arrived, we were sat around the fire place trying to warm up because you had been playing in the snow and got too cold, I left the room for a few seconds," Dad laughed at the memory, " I came back in and I couldn't see you, I thought you were playing hide and seek, so I started looking for you. You mother came in with hot chocolate and started screaming bloody murder."

Mum looked at me and said, "I came in and saw you in the fireplace, I was terrified I was going to lose you, but you just sat there and smiled at us. Then you did the craziest thing, you took a deep breath and _ate the fire_."

I remembered the memory, I had found it funny that they hadn't seen fire magic before, "You took me to the Hokage and I told you all about magic."

"Do you still remember how to do that?" dad asked suddenly after a moment of silence.

"Yeah, I've never forgotten, I've done it a few times by accident but no one has ever noticed. It just feels natural to me."

Mums eyes got wide and she shared a look with dad. Then with a childish look on her face she asked "Can you show us?" A smile spread across my face as I agreed.


	3. Chapter 3

"Are we good?" Mum asked as we came to meet in the clearing, we had just done a quick search of the area to make sure no-one would see what I'm about to do because let's face it- seeing a ninja (who doesn't even specialise in fire-type Jutsus) creating something that looks very similar to Fire Release: Great Fireball without any chakra would cause some worry.

"We're fine." Dad said, his blue eyes giving the clearing one last scan, "No one's around."

"Okay, let's do this." I said rubbing my hands together, "Be warned, I haven't done this in a while."

Dad raised a brown eyebrow at me, "You may not have performed it in a while but I'm betting you go over it in your head at least five times a day." I laughed at this, he knew me so well.

Composing myself I turned to the side, so my parents could still so what I was doing but the flames wouldn't be directed at them. "Would one of you throw that tagged Kunai at me please and release it just before it hits me?"

"What?" Mum asked, her face white, "I'm not throwing anything at you. You're my baby I don't want to hurt you."

"It's okay, my body can withstand extreme heat, and I trust you." I told her a small smile gracing my features, "Besides for this I need to inhale some fire." I gave her one last reassuring smile and she nodded.

"Okay." On that word she let the kunai fly,

5 seconds, 4, 3, 2, 1. It exploded in front of me and I inhaled deeply. The flames from the explosion warmed throat like hot chocolate does on cold days, "Fire Dragon Roar!" I called bringing my hands to my mouth, kind of like a trumpet, and blew through my fingers. A long thin flame streamed out before me and it expanded just before it hit the tree I had been aiming at.

I smiled to myself, happy that I had been able to do it first time. I had missed the feeling of fire coursing through my body.

"That was amazing!" My parents shouted together, rushing to hug me

"Your chakra didn't even flare!" Dad exclaimed as he gazed at the pile of ash that had once been a tree.

"It was so hot, is your throat alright?" Mum asked concern in her eyes once the excitement had calmed down.

"I'm perfectly fine, in fact I feel better than I have in a while." I told her pulling away from her hug so I could stretch my arms, "I might start using that during fights, it would surprise enemies." I said thoughtfully.

"Let's go get that ice-cream we talked about earlier." Dad said a giant smile on his kind face as he slung an arm over my shoulder and wrapped the other one around mum's waist.

XxXxXxXx

"I'm home!" I called as I pushed open the front door, when no one replied I assumed Shika was still out and head into the kitchen for a drink. Our apartment was nice, we had three bedrooms (one was for guests) a good size living room and kitchen and a bathroom, I had fallen in love with the place when I was looking at places to live, I need to move out my parents' house because I felt as though I needed to start taking care of myself and while I loved them with all my heart all their attention got to be a little to suffocating. I was very close to giving up hope of finding the perfect place to move into when I found this little gem, I knew it was for me straight away but it's far too big for one person so I asked Shikamaru, who had been itching to leave home and have some independence of his own, if he wanted to be my roommate. He'd said yes and that was that.

People used to mistake us as a couple but we had quickly squashed those rumours and I explained that he was like an older brother to me.

The sound of the door opening and shutting brought me out of my thoughts and I poked my head through the kitchen door.

"Hey." The lazy brunette said when he noticed me, "How was your day?"

"It was good how about yours?" I asked, raising an eyebrow when I noticed his clothes were torn and he had cut above his left eyebrow.

"Oh it was fantastic." He said, sarcasm dripping from his voice, "I went on a quick info retrieval mission. Everything went great, and then on the way back some rogues attacked. Took use by surprise, they had no noticeable chakra and they were using Justus I've never seen before."

"Let me look at your wounds and you can tell me all about it." I told him using my no-nonsense tone of voice. He immediately sat down on the couch knowing that it would be easier to let me help than to argue.

"There were three of them, they didn't look like much. Didn't have headbands just these weird tattoos. And one of them was using wind Justus but it didn't feel right. He didn't use seals and no chakra flared or anything." He trailed of and stared at the wall behind me, I had seen this look before. He didn't like not knowing things and he was determined to figure it out.

I was mulling over what he said as I finished healing a gash on his arms when I remembered something dad said today " _your chakra didn't even flare!"_ I tensed as I put two and two together.

"I need to speak with Tsunade-Sama." I said quickly as I stood up, "Don't wait up for me."

"Do you know what he was using?" Shika asked looking up at me shocked at my sudden outburst.

"I think so. I'll explain later right now I've got to go." And with that sped towards the tower.

XxXxXxXx

"Tsunade-Sama!" I called knocking on the large wooden doors, "Its Sakura, I need to talk to you!"

"What are you waiting for then?" My teacher's disgruntled voice hollered back and I [pushed my way into the room. I had apparently woken her up from her Sake induced sleep and she didn't look to happy about it.

"I think I know who the rogues are." The words left my moth in a rush and I watched as it took her a moment to process what I had said.

"What do you mean you know who the rogues are?" She was sitting up straighter now, her honey brown eyes where hard and serious.

"The ones who attacked Shikamaru's team. The ones who didn't have chakra signatures."

"Sakura, I'm working the leaders of the other Hidden Villages to find out who is behind this string of attacks. We haven't even begun to understand what kind of Justus their using and then you come in here and tell me you know. Can you see how I have trouble believing you?"

I knew something like this might happen, "I know why they have no noticeable chakra signatures and they aren't using Justus. They're using magic."

A moment of silence passed and Tsunade just stared at me before you she stood up and walked around her desk to stand in front of me.

A cold hand pressed to my forehead "You're burning up. I think you've over worked yourself, that's why I've given you three weeks off. I think it's for the best."

"No, you don't understand," I started brushing her hand off, "I'm not going crazy. The rogues aren't ninjas. They are wizards."

"Sakura-Chan, I want you to go home and-"She trailed off when I held my hand up. I was determined to get my point across, so I may have channelled a bit of fire to my hand.

"Your hand is on fire." She stated, dumbfounded "Why is your hand on fire?"

"Because I'm using fire magic. Now can you feel my chakra flaring?" I raised a pink eyebrow and watched as her eyes grew wider.

"No. Sakura I'm going to need you to explain."

I spent the next two hours explaining all I could remember about magic and guilds (basically large groups of Wizards who accepted missions). I told her about how I hadn't even been born in Kohona and that I could remember my brother and the rest of the guild that had taken us in when our father went missing, (although I left out that he had been a dragon because even I couldn't help but wonder if I was making that up).

"So how do you remember all of this?" She asked as she rubbed her temples, I reached forward and placed my fingers on her forehead channelling chakra into her to relieve her headache.

"Photographic memory. It's a gift and a curse." I joked trying to lighten the mood.

"Go home and get some rest, I have to think somethings over but I will be calling you in at some point tomorrow."

"Okay," I stood up and bowed "Have a goodnight Tsunade-Sama."

"Goodnight, Sakura-chan."


	4. Chapter 4

_A pink haired boy was running in front of me, pulling me along by my hand, he was smiling at me over his shoulder, "Come on, Sakura wait till you show Igneel what you can do! He's going to be so proud of you! Just like me!"_

 _A laugh bubbled up my throat as I followed my big brother through the trees into the small clearing we called home, "Igneel, Sakura just learnt how to use Dragon Fire Claw, it was so awesome you should have seen her!"_

 _There was no answer. No deep voice congratulating me and filling my heart with warm pride like it had on many different occasions. There were no deep red scaled decorating a large tail. There was Igneel._

 _"_ _Igneel?" My voice was soft "Are you playing a prank?"_

 _"_ _If you are it's not funny!" Natsu called as he pulled me closer, "Igneel!"_

 _Silence followed and dread pooled in my stomach and tears welled in my eyes, "Natsu, where is he?"_

 _Deep brown eyes look down at me, he wasn't much taller than me but he was tell enough that I had to crane my head slightly._

 _"_ _I don't know Kura-Chan. I don't know." I for a moment I thought it was raining because a drop of water was sliding down Natsu's cheek. Then I realised he was crying. I had never seen my big brother cry before._

 _Then the scene changed. We were no longer in the clearing but in the hall of a large building surrounded by laughter and warmth. Rain was beating against the windows but no one paid any attention to that as they sang 'happy birthday'._

 _"_ _Blow out your candles." Natsu urged with a giant smile on his face._

 _"_ _Don't forget to make a wish!" A dark haired boy told me,_

 _"_ _I was just about to say that, Ice-cube!" Natsu shouted at Gray._

 _"_ _Well I beat you to it, Flame brain!" was the retort._

 _"_ _Will you two shut up?" Erza yelled before turning her dark brown eyes to me and smiling "Ignore those two morons."_

 _I closed my eyes and took a deep breath,_ I wish that we're going to stay together forever, _I thought as I blew out the candles. A loud cheer echoed around the Guild hall, and Master Makarov (a short man with a moustache and a kind smile) handed me square shaped package wrapped in pale green paper._

 _"_ _A present from the Guild." He smiled_

 _"_ _Thank you all so much!" I said once I'd opened it, it was a photo album filled with pictures that ranged from the day Natsu and I had arrived to just the other day when Lisanna (my best friend) and I had dressed Happy (Natsu's cat) in a cute dress and matching bow._

 _A tall man with curly brown hair stepped forward, "Everyone stand together I'm going to take a picture for you to put in your new photo album!"_

 _"_ _Okay Reedus!" We chorused and huddled together. Reedus took the picture and handed it to me a large grin found its way to my face._

 _"_ _I love it! It's the best picture in the world!" I exclaimed._

 _Suddenly Cana let out a yell, "What the hecks going on?" She slurred dropping her beer. Everyone tried to look around but something was preventing us from moving. A large gust of wind blew the Guild doors open and three figures walked in._

 _Makarov was livid, his face was turning bright red and it contrasted starkly against his white moustache, "Who are you and why you are here?"_

 _"_ _They always ask that." The figure heading the group chuckled, his voice low and dark._

 _"_ _I know. It's annoying." The man to the left snickered, his voice was nasally._

 _"_ _Your voice is annoying!" Natsu yelled, his face turning pink with the effort to move._

 _"_ _Now, now we're only here for the girl." The last figure said, her voice was slow and seductive as she walked towards me, I felt my heart speed up. Something wasn't right, it felt as though I was missing something but I couldn't put my finger on what it was._

 _"_ _Release us and fight us fairly!" Erza shouted at the woman who was drawing closer, the woman laughed. It was a sound like breaking glass._

 _"_ _Don't worry you'll see her again. One day."_

 _With that everything seemed to happen quickly, one minute everyone was frozen in place and the next they were rushing towards me._

 _My screams bounced of the wall and I heard someone shout my name._

"Sakura wake up." I was being shaken, "It's a dream. You're okay." Shikamaru pulled me into a hug and I realised I was in my room.

"Sorry." I said pushing him away and running a hand through my choppy pink locks

"Do you want a drink?" He asked, he seemed nervous as though he didn't know what to do with himself. His face dissolved into a relieve smile when I nodded and he got up to get me a glass of water.

Scrubbing my hands over my face I swung my legs out from under my covers and looked up at the pictures I had put up yesterday, my eyes resting on the one of my old family.

"Those are new." Shika said as he sat next to me, "I see you moved your things over."

"Yeah I thought id get it done." I told him taking the glass water he offered me.

Shika looked at me for a god few minutes before talking, "Do you want to talk about it?"

I was quiet for a moment and then I decided I might as well tell him about my past.

"It was a nightmare. I haven't had it since I was a little girl."

"What was it about?" He pushed, he had realised that I was about to tell him something bug and he knew I would need some nudging to spill it.

"I wasn't born in Kohona." I blurted, but before he could say anything I continued, "I was adopted by my parents when I was five. They found me alone in the forest wandering about, I apparently walked up to them and showed them a picture of my family and asked for help. They took me to the Hokage and then they went to look for the people in that photograph." I nodded to the picture of the Guild, "They couldn't find them anywhere and the Hokage sent a copy of the picture to all the villages, but no-one knew who they were. I was declared an orphan and the Harunos took me in."

Shika looked thoughtful for a moment, "So the nightmare was about wheat ever lead up to you being found in the forest."

"One point for you." I joked, "Yeah, It was on my fifth birthday and my family had thrown me a surprise party, you know cake balloons the works, and I blow the candles out on my cake- a strawberry cheesecake- and Makarov had given me my present, a photo album full of photos. Then Reedus took a picture of us all."

Shika pointed "Let me guess that one?"

"Correct again. Anyway Reedus had just handed me the picture and the doors blew open, none of us could move. We were stuck and it didn't feel right, at the time I thought it was some type of magic but know I know it was a Genjutsu, and these three people walked in and said a few things that I can't really remember and then one of them- a woman- walked up to me and the next thing I knew I was in the middle of nowhere, and the only thing I had with me was that picture."

"Wait you said you though the Genjutsu was magic. Does that mean you know how to do what those rogues were doing?"  
I smiled slightly, trust Shika to pick up on that.

"Yeah, but there are loads of different types of magic. My brother and I do what is called Dragon Slayer Magic, an ancient technique that used to be used to kill dragons but not so much an more because no one really knows how to do it. We learnt it off Igneel, who happened to be a dragon. It's kind of like how ninjas use different techniques."

"Right I get you. So how come I've never seen you use magic?"

"Because the Hokage told me to keep it a secret he didn't want people finding out. He was trying to keep me safe."

Shika stood up and held out a hand, "Let's go get some dango. I'm starving."

One thing I have always loved about Shika is that he knows when to drop a topic, he knows when people are uncomfortable talking about something and so he gives them space until they're ready to talk.

"Alright, get out so I can get dressed." I shooed him out my room,

"It's nothing I haven't seen before!" he joked as I pushed him through the door.

"You wish!" I called and shut the door. I could hear him laughing as he walked down the hall.


	5. Chapter 5

"Really?" I all but shouted "You and Tamari-"

"Keep it down. Sheesh you're troublesome." Shikamaru was going pink in the cheeks,

"Shika, are you blushing?" I asked a smirk curling my lips as I teased my friend.

"I don't blush. It the glare from your hair."

"Leave the hair alone." I warned "Why didn't you tell me sooner? How long have I been telling you that you two are perfect together?"

"Longer than I can remember. But you can't tell anyone just yet, I don't Garaa finding out and killing me before I'm ready to tell him myself." He said before taking a sip of his tea.

We were sitting in a little café just down the road from the apartment, it was called the 'Dango Stick' and they sold the best sweets and cakes in the village.

"Who have I got to tell?" I asked, "Everyone's playing hide and seek with my team for the past year." I may have said the last part with a bit too much venom because Shika raised a dark eyebrow at me.

"I thought you were over that."

"I am!" I protested, "At least I'm not as upset about it anymore. Pissed off? Yes, but who wouldn't be if your teammates just up and left you?"

"True." He conceded taking spoonful out of the cake we were sharing. We had just finished a plate of Dango, there was a brief moment of feeling guilty about my diet before that replaced by the heavenly taste of strawberry cream cake.

"We both have the day off. Fancy training a little bit?" I asked as I took a large mouthful of cake

"Sure. By the way you look so attractive like that." The laugh in his voice showed that he was joking.

"You meam wif cafe in my mouf?" I asked.

"Yep and on our nose." He scooped some frosting on to his finger and dapped it on to the tip of my nose before I could move.

"No fair!" I said once id swallowed, "I was distracted!"

"Yeah. Okay, keeping telling yourself that Haruno."

"Don't make me put glitter in you shampoo again." I said. Before he could retort a messenger poofed into existence next to our table.

"You have both been summoned to speak with the Hokage." The messenger said before he disappeared,

"I swear they get more annoying by the day." Shika grumbled before putting some money down to pay for the food. I pulled out some coins for a tip and followed my friend out the café.

Shizune met us at the front of the tower, her smile seemed strained. Before I could ask her what was wrong she told us, "Prepare for a shock. Don't do anything rash." And she pushed the wooden doors open.

The first thing I saw was Tsunade-Sama looking very serious behind her desk, not a Sake bottle in sight- that meant she was sober and this was going to be important.

Then I saw my friends, Ino, Hinata and Tenten smiling at me "What are you guys doing here?" I asked in surprise, but I had a feeling I knew why they were home.

"We finished early Forehead." Ino said fondly rushing towards me a wrapping me in a hug. The other girls soon followed and we stood in a group hug for a few minutes before a familiar voice said.

"What about us?"

My shoulders tensed and I lifted my head from Hinata's shoulder. Looking over to the other side of the room I saw my old team. I felt my face go slack as I straightened up and pulled away from the girls.

Naruto was smiling at me, his cerulean blue eyes shone brightly and his skin was tanner than I remembered. He was holding his arms out for a hug. Kakashi-sensie hadn't changed a bit, his silver hair still stood up on end and his visible eye smiled at me from over the top of a familiar orange book. And then my eyes slid over to the last remaining member of team 7.

The dark eyes of Sasuke Uchiha stared back at me, completely void of emotion. _No change there then_ I thought.

It felt like hours had passed yet in reality it was mere minutes.

Someone cleared their throat and I looked over to see Kiba and the other boys standing proudly in the corner. They had done their job, they had brought back team 7.

"Sakura-Chan?" Naruto asked, his voice was unsure. He was probably wondering why I hadn't burst into tears or running to hug them. I was thinking the same thing.

Shika place a hand on my arm to get me to look at him, when my eyes met his he inclined his head slightly, _are you okay?_ He was asking. I nodded slightly and then turned back to the others.

I smiled at Kiba, Neji, Lee, Choji and Shino in a way of thanks before walking up to my team.

The closer I got the more I couldn't separate the emotions running through me. I was relieved and happy that they were safe. But I was pissed beyond belief that they had left me behind.

I pulled Naruto in for a hug "Thank god your safe." I whispered my voice cracking as tears finally welled up in my eyes, the blond hugged me back my feet coming of the ground slightly.

"Sensei." I nodded at Kakashi unsure of whether or not he would want a hug.

"Sakura-Chan." Was all he said before he pulled me close, "You've grown, I don't remember giving you permission to do that." He was trying to lighten the mood but I heard a slight waver in his voice that made me bawl harder into his flak jacket.

I pulled away from him and I felt the change in the room as everyone wondered how I would react to Sasuke. I threw my arms around him and a sigh of relief could be hear around the room. Apparently no one wanted any confrontation. Of course Sasuke didn't return the hug, I hadn't expected him too. And I was glad he had wrapped his arms around me, because it gave me more room to pull back and look him in the eyes.

"Now that were all re-acquainted, we can get down to business." Tsunade said.

THWACK! The sound of my hand hitting Sasuke's cheek interrupted whatever she was about to say next.

"You bastard." I said, I could feel everyone's eyes on me but I didn't care I needed to get this out of my system, "You're a selfish, cold-hearted bastard!"

"Sakura-Chan," Naruto started catching my other hand before it made a matching mark on Sasuke's other cheek.

"Don't get me started on you either Naruto. Or you Kakashi!" I yelled rounding on them all, "Do you know what you've put me through? What happened to 'leaving a team-mate behind makes you worse than trash'? Or does that not apply to me?"

"Sakura, you can yell at them all you want later but right now I have something important I need to get out of the way." Tsunade said, her eyes full of understanding.

"Sorry." I said turning to face her.

The blonde nodded and continued "It has come to light that a Rogues who have been attacking recently are not Ninjas" a mummer rolled through the room, "They are Wizards. Instead of Chakra they use Magic, I know it sounds impossible but it makes sense, they are using techniques we have never seen, they have next to no chakra signature and they are not from any Villages."

"So where are they from?" Tenten asked, her head cocked to the side.

"That's what I'm struggling to understand, I've contacted all the Villages in every single country, yes they have all obliged because they have all been attacked by this group, and none of them know where these wizards are from."

"They're from Earth Land." I said, remember the name of my former home, "It's probably a different world, we must be connected to it though if they're getting over here. That means we can go to their world." My mind was racing, if I could get back to Earth Land and find my way back to Magnolia I might find my Brother!

"How do you know that?" Sasuke's deep voice echoed around the room

"Oh it speaks." Shikamaru whispered obviously meaning for everyone to hear.

"Shikamaru!" Ino hissed not wanting Tsunade to blow a gasket.

"That is for Sakura to tell you when she deems fit." Tsunade said, "Would you explain Sakura?"

"Of course," I said walking over to her desk and leaning against it, I smirked when she rolled her eyes at me. It was crazy what I could get away with because she was as she put it 'fond' of me. "Earth Land is split very much like our own world, with lots of towns and villages. A few of these towns or villages are home to Guilds. Guilds are made up of Wizards who all practice different types of magic, who accept missions and defend their towns. There are good Guilds and Dark Guilds. My guess is these rogues are wither from a Dark Guild or they're trying to start their own."

"I see." Tsunade said cradling her chin in her hands, "Do you think there's a link between our world and theirs?"

"Defiantly, how else will they be here?" There was an implied, _how else would I be here?_

"Is there a higher power? Someone who looks over the Guilds?" Kiba asked from his spot against the wall.

"Yes actually. Thanks for reminding me." I said smiling sweetly in Kiba's direction, "The Magic Council, they oversee everything."

"So they're powerful?" Neji asked his lilac eyes full of curiosity.

"Yep." I said popping the 'P'

"Do you think any of them could be behind this?" Hinata asked, her stutter long gone (You have no idea how proud I am of her for that).

"I don't think so, they like to keep the peace," I said uncertain, hell I had only just turned five when I was taken away from my home, I can't remember all the details.

"I still don't get how you know all this." Sasuke said deadpanned.

"Yeah Sakura, have you been studying it?" Naruto asked, I knew he meant well but to me it felt like all I could do in their eyes was look things up and spout random facts.

"You could say that."

"Now these Guilds you talked about, there's Dark Guilds and Light Guilds?" Tsunade asked, I could almost see the cogs working in her brain.

"Yeah, why?" and then it clicked, "An Alliance!" We yelled at the same time. It was a habit we picked up when we worked together on patients who need serious patching up.

"We make an alliance with one of the Light Guilds and have them help use defeat these bastards." Shikamaru said cottoning on to the plan.

"And because they know how to fight with magic they would be more effective. But we don't know what Guild to form the alliance with." Tsunade said, slumping down in her seat.

"Yes we do." I said, raising an eyebrow at her, "Or are you forgetting where I'm from?"

"You never did tell us what it was called." Shika said smirking at me, he was exited that we had finally figured out a plan pf action.

"Fairytail. We make an alliance with Fairytail. One of the best Guilds in all of Earth Land." I said proudly, I could picture Natsu puffing his chest out when I said this.

"Right." Tsunade said getting serious, "Your mission is to figure out how to get to Earth Land and form an alliance with Fairytail."

"Hai!" We chorused.

"Hang on. Even the traitor?" Shikamaru asked disbelief in his voice.

Tsunade shot him a look that would make a lesser man tremble, "I'm going to treat this mission as a second chance for him He came back willingly and I've already discussed things with him and the Council. He knows where he stands. Right, Uchiha?"

"Yes, My lady." Was His simple reply.

"Great, now get out, I need a drink." Just as we were about to ask when we start she said "And you start immediately, it might be best for you to get some food and then go to the library and do some research before you go off on a wild goose chase."

"Hai." We chorused again and filed out of the room.

"I think she meant 'wild duck chase'" Shika whispered in my ear making me laugh. We had once compared Sasuke's hair to that of a ducks butt and ever since we have made jokes about it.

"When did you two get so close?" Ino asked raising a blonde eyebrow, this must have piqued everyone's interest including Sasuke's – who turned his head slightly to listen.

Shika and I shared a look. It was going to be fun messing with them, "Ever since we moved in together." Shikamaru said nonchalantly swinging an arm over my shoulder as I smiled sweetly up at him.

"What?" Naruto bellowed his face going red, "You two are living together?"

"Please tell me you're joking?" Kakashi asked he hated the idea of his little Sakura growing up, she was the only one in his team who didn't give him trouble plus she was so innocent! How dare this boy take advantage of the girl he considered a daughter.

"We're completely serious, we were working on a project together and we just clicked. We have our own apartment near the 'Dango Stick'." I was right. Messing with them was fun, their faces were a picture. Even Sasuke (the king of the straight face) had his mouth hanging slightly ajar.

"Why don't you come over for dinner? We'll cook something nice. Pop round at seven?" Shikamaru said a smirk plastered on his handsome face.

"Bye!" I said cheerfully giving the girls and Naruto one last hug before Shika and I disappeared in a cloud of smoke.

XxXxXxXx

The group of ninjas stood outside the Hokage tower with slack jaws.

"I still can't believe she slapped you, Teme." Naruto said, addressing Sasuke.

"She was filled with the fire of youth." Lee said.

"She seems different." Hinata said and the other girls nodded. Ino looked in the direction Sakura said she lived, her best friend certainly seemed different. Whether it was a good different or a bad different she didn't know.

"She seems over you." Neji told Sasuke, giving the Uchiha a once over. The sharigan user may be able to hide most of his emotions but Neji could see that the Uchiha was annoyed that Sakura was had reacted the way she did.

"Hn." Was all Sasuke said looking bored while on the inside his brain was in turmoil. He had pushed her away so why, when she was no longer fan-girling over him like she had when they were younger, was he disappointed that she had shown more affection for the blond and that Nara boy than him?

Sasuke resolved that he would win her affections again, he had realised while working with Orochimaru that he held feelings for his old team, he missed the way Kakashi pushed him when training and praised him when he did something right, he had missed the friendly fights with Naruto and the way the Blond had treated him like a brother. He had even found himself missing the way a certain pink-haired girl would smile at him and shower him with affection.

Was it possible he had fallen in love with Sakura somewhere along the line without even realising it? Was that the reason he felt jealousy rearing its ugly head when he thought about her in someone else's arms?

 **(A/N I know Sasuke is out of character but I really like them as a couple and I think it would be nice to see him fight for her attention and affection. I also think seeing him earn her affection will be fun so there's going to be quiet a bit of Sasuke being out of character :) I hope your enjoying it)**


	6. Chapter 6

Shikamaru and I were in the kitchen putting dinner together for when the others arrived. We were covered in flour and other random things thanks to a spontaneous food fight.

"Their faces though!" Shikamaru chuckled as he chopped carrots, "I think we stretch this joke out as long as we can."

"Totally!" I agreed, "You've got egg in your hair." I pointed out and watched as his brown eyes grew wide. This was a side to Shikamaru that not a lot of people knew about, normally he had a 'can't be bothered' attitude that sometimes came of as cold but I knew he loved to joke and mess around. When we first moved in we played pranks on each other quiet often but that had died down now, I knew his favourite movies and books and he knew mine. It was really rather sweet.

"Stick your head under the water, it will get most of it out before it dries." I suggested, just then the doorbell rang and I shouted, "It's open come on in!"

"Sakura-Chan?" Naruto's voice rang through the apartment, "Kaka-Sensei and Teme are with me."

"I'll go greet them." I said in a low voice to Shikamaru who just nodded and carried on chopping carrots, "Hi, oh Naruto you didn't have to!" I exclaimed when I saw the blond clutching a bunch of flowers.

"I thought it would be nice surprise for you. Kaka-Sensei helped pick them out." He said sheepishly rubbing the back of his neck

"Do you want anything to drink?" I addressed them all. As I searched for a vase to put the flowers in.

"Just some water for me please." Kakashi said, his eye crinkling into a smile.

"Same as him please Sakura-chan." Naruto beamed.

"What about you Sasuke?" I had to catch myself before I added 'Kun' onto the end of his name. His eyebrow lifted a tiny bit and took this as a _'the same as those two'_

"Okay, three waters coming up." I turned and walked into the kitchen throwing a "Make yourselves comfortable." Over my shoulder.

"Whose here?" Shika asked without turning to look at me. I pulled down three glasses and started fill them with water.

"Take a guess."

"Ah right, hopefully the others won't take long." He lowered his voice, "And the games begin."

I nodded and tightened the small pony-tail I had tied my hair into, "Come and say hi, Shikamaru." I said loud enough for the others to hear ans I walked back into the sitting room.

Kakashi was sat on the comfy chair that I loved to read on and the other two were slouched on couch.

"It's a nice place." Kakashi said nodding his head.

"Thanks we decorated ourselves." Shika said coming up behind me, it was true we spent all our free time painting and putting furniture together. There were elements of Shikamaru's personality in the paintings on the walls and the cool colours on some of the walls. And you could tell that I'd had fun picking out cushions and other bits and pieces, random shocks of colour where scattered about the apartment it went well with the serene tones that Shika had painted the walls.

"Here you go, the others should be here soon." I said plastering a smile onto my face.

"The foods almost done, just a few finishing touches." Shika told me as he leaned against the wall.

"Off the wall. You're covered in flour, you'll leave a mark." I told him.

"And whose fault is that?" there was a playful tone in his voice and I smiled, he was messing with them.

"That would be yours." I retorted bopping him on the nose as I passed him, "Go wash up. I'll finish up."

"If you insist." With nod to my team he was off down the hall and into the bathroom.

"Can we come into the kitchen and talk? It would be nice to catch up." Naruto said standing up. I noticed he was a head taller than me now. I wonder when that happened.

"Of course. Excuse the mess, someone thought it would be a good idea to start a food fight." I said loud enough for my roommate to hear.

"Oi! I can hear you!" Came the faint reply.

"Good!" I shouted back and grinned cheekily at Kakashi who rolled his eye (eyes?). We walked into the kitchen and i started getting to work.

"So what have you been doing since we've been… away?" Kakashi said carefully.

"Not much, working at the hospital, doing a couple of missions here and there." I said raising one shoulder.

"What kind of missions?" Naruto asked eagerly wanting to talk about something.

"Oh, you know. Typical info retrieval, the odd healing mission." I was trying to about telling them about the seduction missions I had been sent on by the council. All female ninjas go through a special training when they come of age (normally at the age of 16). They get taught how to use their body's to retrieve information and to distract a target while a team member carries out the mission. And when the other girls from our group went on the mission to find my team I had been the only one available to train and carry out the seduction missions. Luckily there haven't been many but I still felt a little ashamed of what I had to do.

Shikamaru had been right there for me when I came home crying after my first seduction mission, I had felt used and dirty but now I was numb to all that. I had learnt to turn off my emotions when on that type of mission. Shika had also been my first, Tsunade had told me that it would be best if I gave my virginity to someone I trusted before I I went on the first mission, and Shika had been the only one I could think off. Nothing has happened since, were just closer than ever.

"You're not telling us something." Sasuke said, it surprised me that he had spoken. I had expected him to stay quiet al night.

"What would I have to hide?" I asked not looking at them, I could feel their curious stares on my back.

"You're seventeen." Kakashi said, I could hear revelation in his voice. Trust him to figure it out.

"Oh. We missed your birthday!" Naruto shouted, I heard a slap as his hand came into contact with his forehead, "I'm sorry Sakura-chan."

"It's fine Naruto." I turned and smiled him to show him it didn't matter.

"Sakura, tell me the truth. What types of missions have you been on?" Kakashi was serious, his visible was focused on my face.

"What does it matter?" I shrugged not meeting his gaze. Out of the corner of my eye I could see Sasuke and Naruto looking from me to the silver haired man.

"It matters because your seventeen now."

"What does her age have to do with anything?" Sasuke asked raising a dark eyebrow. _He's in a talkative mood,_ I thought.

"It matters because when a konoichi turns sixteen she's taught the basics of seduction." Kakashi's voice was flat.

"Seduction as in…?" Naruto trailed of when he realised what our teacher meant.

"Okay. I've been on a few seduction missions. So what?" I asked, I was being defensive but what gave them the right to question me about the missions I had been sent on when they had been running about playing tag?

"Sakura, you didn't have to accept those missions. There are other people who could have done them." Sasuke said, maybe I was imagining it but I heard something in his voice that sounded very similar to concern.

"On the contrary, Uchiha." Shikamaru's voice spoke from the doorway, "All the girls who were eligible to do those missions were either busy or chasing after you three."

I saw realisation creep onto the boys faces.

"I'm going to get cleaned up before the others get here." I told the quiet room.

"They're already here, we've just heard everything." Shika whispered in my ear as I passed, a hand on my wrist to stop me walking off, "I asked them not to say anything but I think they're feeling guilty they left you to do the seduction missions alone." He placed a kiss on my forehead in a comforting gesture and I smiled weakly at him before pulling away to get a shower.

"I won't be long!" I called as passed the other guests, "Sorry!"

XxXxXxX

After we had eaten, we sat scattered across the living room coming up with a plan of action. Hinata and TenTen had stopped off at the library before coming over and had taken out some books they thought would be helpful.

"This one says that in places full of spiritual energy the 'barrier between worlds' is thinner." Ino said holding up a book with the title "Our World and Others".

"So temples and places like that?" Neji asked looking up from the list he was making.

"Most likely." Shino said, leaning against the wall.

"There's got be hundreds of temples!" Naruto whined, "Any one of them could be the link."

"Do you remember if there are any temples in Earth Land?" Shikamaru asked. He had arm slung over his eyes, we were all getting restless. We wanted to get moving.

"I can't I'm sorry." I sighed.

"You keep asking her if she remembers. Have you been to Earth Land before?" Choji asked from his spot by Ino's feet.

"I'm not getting into it now." I sighed, "I'll tell you soon."

"Okay." Choji said kindly sending me a sweet smile. He had lost his baby fat and was now all muscles. He was easily the tallest out of all of us. Including Kakashi.

Suddenly I remembered something, there was a Cathedral in Magnolia. It was place where celestial mages could find shelter. That meant there had to be some type of spiritual energy around there.

"There is a Cathedral." I said, looking around the room and seeing blank faces, "There's one in magnolia. Pass me the maps." Lee passed me the rough map I had drawn of Earth Land and of our world and marked where Kardia Cathedral was in Magnolia and then I realised that Earth Land had similar Geography to our world.

"There's a temple on the out skirts of Kohona. It's not been used in years, it was partially destroyed when the Kyuubi attacked." Neji said when he realised that Magnolia was in a similar position to the Land of Fire.

Shikamaru leaned over my shoulder to get a better look at the maps.

"That Cathedral is in the same place as the temple. It would be worth investigating." He said, resting his head on my hair.

"We'll investigate this lead tomorrow." Kakashi said stretching, "We should get some rest and meet at the gates at six hundred hours."

"Hai." We agreed.

"See you all tomorrow." Ino said standing up and starching, "Come give us a hug Forehead." I did as she said and hugged her, "Good night!"

"I think we'll follow your lead." Kiba said speaking for everone.

I hugged everyone as they took their leave. Finally it was just Naruto, Kakashi, Sasuke, Shika and I left.

"The Uchiha compound is locked down, they're checking it over for some reason and Naruto gave up his apartment so he could go after Sasuke." Kakashi said, "They were wondering if they could crash here tonight? I would offer for them to stay at mine but I have no room."

"Of course they can stay the night." Shika said.

"Yeah, we have a guest room and one of you can sleep in my room, I'll crash with Shika. It won't be a problem." I said. I realised that Shika was going to use this to his advantage he was going to make it out as if it was no big deal that we shared a bed. And in reality it wasn't. We've been on countless missions that have resulted in us sharing a bed at an inn because there was nowhere else to sleep.

"Great. I'll see you all tomorrow." Kakashi nodded and poofed home.

I turned to the boys, "Naruto you can have the guest room." There's nothing he can break in there, "And you can have my room Sasuke."

"Are you sure this is okay?" Naruto asked his blue eyes heavy with sleep.

"Of course it is." I said pulling him in for a hug, "The bathrooms just down there. There's spare toothbrushes in the cupboard and the guest room is here."

Sasuke cleared his throat, "Which is your room?"

"I'll show you. Follow me." If I didn't know better I would have thought Sasuke was nervous about spending the night in my room.

"Here you go. The sheets are clean and I think theres one of SHikas shirts in the closet that might fit you." I said the last part mostly to myself as I rummaged for the mentioned piece of clothing, "Ah here, and some sweatpants to."

I handed him the clothes and turned to leave when suddenly Sasuke pulled me in for a hug. "Thank you." His voice was quiet and I felt tears well in my eyes.

"Never say that again." I said pulling away and looking into his eyes, "it reminds me of when you left."

He nodded slightly, "Sorry, then, for everything. Goodnight Sakura."

"Good night Sasuke-kun." I said softly as I left the room closing the door behind me.

XxXxXxX

I waited for the door to close behind her before I let out a breath I hadn't known I'd been holding. That girl was driving me crazy, all night she had been throwing kind smiles around and stretching her beautiful laugh out. It was easy to image that I had never made the mistake of leaving.

Sakura had grown. She was no longer in that awkward stage between childhood and teenager, she was taller- not much but she was- her hair was still short and it suited her. It framed her heart-shaped face and matched the shade of lips. Her eyes were the same. I felt like they would never change, I hoped they would stay as big, green, and full of love and kindness forever.

Over the years while training with Orochimaru I had wonder about how she had looked, what she was doing. I often played conversations over I my head (granted she had always been doing the talking) and now I could actually hear the softness of her voice, hear the way she pronounced different words. She was my angel, always has been, I realised.

Running a hand through my hair I decided I'd better get some rest, changing into Nara's clothes _why were they even in her closet?_ I thought back to the argument we had in the kitchen. It killed me to think about her flaunting her body in front of strangers. Criminals no less. My blood boiled at the thought of one of those disgusting pigs using her. I needed to change my train of thoughts.

She had looked so sad just then. Asking me not to say 'Thank you' because it reminded her of the night I left.

"I promise I won't make you cry ever again." I whispered into the dark room before I drifted off to sleep.

 **(A/N the story will pick up in the next few chapters, I will try and include a fight scene where Sakura uses fire magic as soon as possible :) I hope your enjoy reading this as much as I am enjoying writing it.)**


	7. Chapter 7

I was up before everyone else, I had slept better than I thought I would and when I rolled out of bed and saw Shikamaru still fast asleep I decided to make breakfast for when the others woke up. I glanced at the clock and saw that is was half four. I had enough time to prepare breakfast and get ready.

Tiptoeing out of Shikamaru's room I head to the kitchen listening for any sounds that might indicate the boys waking up. Apart from Naruto's snoring it was quiet. Lighting the stove so I could boil some water for tea, I couldn't help but let my mind wander. _What would they say if I just showed up at Fairytail? Will they remember me? What do I even say to Natsu when I see him?_

I shook my head, I couldn't think about that right now, I had to get focused. Just as I was pulling dishes and cups down from the cupboard I heard three distinctive sets of footsteps.

"Sakura-Chan?" Naruto's voice asked from the sitting room, "Where are you?"

"In the Kitchen, I'm just making some breakfast for you." I felt a smile tug on my lips, it was nice having him back.

"Why didn't wake me I would have helped?" I heard Shika say as he walked into the kitchen, "Sakura." I hummed in response and started to pour the boiling water into the cups, "You might want to put some pants on."

I spun on my heel and came face to face with the boys. Naruto was looking anywhere except me going so red a tomato would be jealous, Shika was smirking in amusement and Sasuke's ears were turning pink as he tried to keep his eyes trained on my face. I looked down and realised that I was in an oversized top that barley covered my knickers.

"Sorry!" I squeaked rushing passed them, "I must have wriggled out of my shorts in the night."

"Don't worry about it." Shika chuckled, and I threw a glare over my shoulder at him.

"Just grab what you want I'm going to get dressed." I hurried into my room and started to pull out the clothes I wore on missions. I had stopped wearing that dress when I started training with Tsunade, realising that it only got in the way. I had swapped it out for a short-sleeved red tank-top with a zipper up the front and some spandex shorts. If I was acting as medic on a team I would throw my medics skirt over the top but I decided against that this time as I wrapped my bindings around my chest.

There was a knock on my door as I pulled my shoes on, "Come in." I said, my voice muffled since I was bent over.

"Brought you a cup of tea." Naruto's voice said. I looked up and saw him standing awkwardly in the doorway.

"Thank you. Come in and sit down if you want." I told him, reaching for my other shoe. I saw him nod out the corner of my eye and he moved to sit on my bed.

"I'm sorry." He sounded serious which was shock for me since I had always known him as the immature goofball, "For leaving you behind and not keeping in contact. I just didn't want you to get hurt." He said when I didn't answer.

"Naruto," I started but I was cut off by the deep voice of Sasuke.

"I'm sorry too. To both of you, I was being reckless." This shocked me more than Naruto being serious had. "Why are you looking at me like that?" Sasuke asked after a minute of uncomfortable silence.

"Because you're saying sorry. And you're saying more than 'Hn'" I said and then turned to Naruto, "And you're being serious for once. It's a bit strange."

Naruto smiled his 100 megawatt smile, "I guess we've all changed. I mean your acting differently too."

"How so?" I cocked my head to the side and motioned for him to elaborate.

"Well." Sasuke said, "You're not as bubbly, you're not laughing as much as you used to."

"Yeah, and you haven't thrown yourself at Sasuke. You slapped him."

"I would have slapped all of you if Tsunade didn't need to talk to us." I said, not feeling guilty about it.

"Yeah I know, I keep wondering if you're going to take a swing for me." Naruto joked swinging an arm around me. I felt the bed dip on the other side of me and I looked over to see Sasuke.

"What made you come back?" I asked. I was genuinely curious.

"The dobe." He said and then decided it wasn't a good enough answer, "I realised that I wasn't getting anywhere with Orochimaru. I was just going through the same routine over and over. I also realised I missed the village and that I'd had a great life here. I made a mistake." He hung his head his dark hair falling into his eyes.

"Hey," I said softly trying to catching his eyes, "Everyone makes mistakes, but at least you realised that and you're trying to make it right."

"She's right." Naruto said.

"When am I not?" I asked jokingly trying to lighten the mood. It worked because Naruto laughed and Sasuke cracked a small smile.

"Where's Shika?" I asked realising the brown haired boy wasn't around.

"Gone to round up the others." Naruto said, "Hey! Look at all those pictures!" he pointed a tanned finger at the wall that had all the photos on it. "You've got loads! Oh, I remember that mission."

He was pointing to the picture of a young team 7, I was clutching a cat in my arms a large grin on my face that matched Naruto's who was sat in front of me covered in scratches, Sasuke was stood to the side a small smile tugging at the corner of his lips.

"Yeah, we chased that cat all over." I giggled, "Oh and in that one you and Sasuke had fallen into that poison Ivy bush." Little Sasuke and Naruto glared at us from the photo, large welts covering all visible skin.

"What are those ones?" Sasuke asked pointing to a group of photos that had Shika and Me in them.

"Oh they're from the last mission we did together, we had to pretend to be these dancers at one point. I had to teach him, he couldn't dance to save his life."

"Could the dress be any shorter?" Naruto asked poking me in the sides.

"We were distracting the targets while our other teammate snuck some poison into his drink. I had to look eye catching."

"Your eye catching anyway." Sasuke said and then he quickly added, "I mean how often is it you see a girl with pink hair?"

"Great save." Naruto joked, earning a glare of the Uchiha.

"We better get ready to go." I said casting a pointed look at the clock.

XxXxXxX

"No traps, inside or out. It's too easy." TenTen said, we had arrived at the temple outside of Kohona and spent the last hour checking for traps. The brunette was right. It was too easy.

"Maybe whoever came through has already triggered them." Naruto said coming to stand next to me.

"Why leave their way home unprotected though? It doesn't make sense." Hinata said casting a curious glance at the temple in front of us.

"You used Byakugan to check for traps inside right?" Kakashi asked the Hyugas

"Hai. There were none that we could see." Neji said his face serious.

"What if they're using some kind of magic?" Shika asked his eyes narrowed in thinking. Everyone looked at me.

"Can you sense it?" Kiba asked cocking his head, "Magic I mean."

"No. I can't sense magic, but I can go in and see if Shikas theory is correct." I said almost apologetically.

"You're not going in there without knowing if there are traps or not." Sasuke said raising an eyebrow. In my younger days I would have blushed and done as he'd said. But not anymore, I'm older and I can take care of myself.

"With all due respect, if there is a trap in there that's running off magic then I might be able to disarm it." I said, my voice hard. I could see that my cold tone had shocked everyone including Shika, I never used that tone with anybody except enemies.

"She's right. She has a better grasp on magic than any of us." Shikamaru said looking up at the sky. He was reluctant to let me go in there.

"I've done more dangerous things than this." I smiled at him trying to lighten the mood.

"Don't remind me." Shika growled.

"Alright make it quick. I want you in and out of there as fast as you can." Kakashi said his tone saying it was not open to discussion.

"On it." I said and hurried towards the broken door.

The temple looked like it would fall down if I poked it and I had to edge myself around large stones that had fallen to the ground. Sun shine through the gaps in the ceiling and I winced as a wooden beam creaked ominously. _Why did I agree to this?_ I asked myself.

I moved as quickly as I could through the hallway and found myself standing in a large rounded room. It looked relatively untouched, apart from that crumbling wall over there and half the roof missing, I mean.

"So what now?" A voice asked from the other side of the room. Three men stood facing away from me and quickly used a genjutsu to camouflage myself.

"I've already been over this." The tallest of the three growled, his voice was low and menacing.

"Yeah Len. He's been over this." The figure who spoke turned and lent against the wall. I could see his face now, choppy brown hair with a single streak of bright orange flopped over his green eyes. I gave him a quick once over, he didn't look to threatening; he was skinny and not very tall. He moved his head to look at the man who was obviously the leader and said, "We just need the girl right?"

"We get the girl and deliver her to _him_ and then we take over this world. There's no Magic Council here. We'd be able to do as we please without the consequences.

The one who had been identified as Len said, "Why not just take over now? Who needs _that guy?_ " Whoever they were talking about scared them, if you weren't paying attention you wouldn't hear the waver in their voice.

"You're forgetting your place, boy." The leader said pulling the hood of the cloak he was wearing down. My hand flew up to my mouth to hide the gasp, he was one of the ones who took me from Fairytail.

"Did you hear something?" Len asked turning to look in my direction, I noticed he looked exactly like the other one, except instead of orange a light blue streak stood out against his dull brown hair.

"Must have been the wind." The other twin said.

"No, Cam, I heard something." _Ah so orange-peel is called Cam._ I thought as I backed out of the room, as soon as I had cleared the doorway I turned and ran. Not letting the genjutsu go until I was outside.

"Forehead!" Ino screeched as I ploughed into her, "You just appeared out of nowhere. Wait, what's wrong."

"Where are the others?" I asked looking around.

"Hiding in the tree line, I was sent to come and find you. You were in there for too long." Her blue eyes searched my face, "Seriously what's wrong?"

"We need to get away from here, there's people in there. Could be dangerous." My mind was racing, there was no mistaking him. The leader of the trio inside the temple was one of my kidnappers. I remembered he had been the cruellest, he had pulled my along and hit me when I hadn't complied with what they wanted straight away. He had sounded scared though, it made me wonder who they were working for. I tensed a memory slinked its way into my mind.

 _"_ _Let go of me!" I clawed at the hand that was gripping my wrist._

 _"_ _She's a feisty one." A man with dark purple eyes and hair to match grinned at me, "I like 'em feisty."_

 _"_ _Juno." The woman, who had introduced herself as Larsa, snapped. I had quickly learnt that she was the one in charge and that Juno and Zaffe (the one tugging me along by the wrist) did anything she said. Zaffe seemed annoyed by this and seemed to be taking it out on me._

 _"_ _The quicker we get the brat to Onyx the better. I'm fed up of you ordering me around." Zaffe said, his gold eyes flashing with annoyance_

 _"_ _I said let me go!" my voice was getting shriller by the moment. For some reason I couldn't use my fire magic._

 _"_ _Zaffe, you're hurting her!" Larsa said, her black hair fanning behind her as twirled to confront her brother. It wasn't hard to see they were related, same hair and eyes._

 _"_ _And?" Zaffe scoffed, he tightened his grip and I let out a shout. Larsa moved quickly her hand closing around her brother's throat._

 _"_ _Onyx wants her unharmed. I will not be punished for you pig-headedness." She snarled, her pretty features contorting._

 _"_ _You take care of her then." Zaffe let go of my wrist and shoved me away, I fell to my knees before I tried to scramble away._

 _"_ _Can I look after her?" Juno asked his voice becoming childish as he caught me round the waist._

 _"_ _Get off me!" I screamed. My arms and legs flailing around._

 _"_ _Put her down you moron. I'll look after her. You men don't know how to treat a child." Larsa said taking me from the lunatic, "I'm sorry about these two idiots," she ignored the sounds of protests the other two made, "But once I get you to our master and my husband, everything will be better. I promise."_

 _"_ _Why do want me?" I asked my eyes getting heavy. This time I could tell she was using magic, a simple sleep charm._

 _"_ _My husband wants a test subject and I want a daughter. You're perfect for both." She cooed as I drifted to sleep._

Something warm and soothing flowed through my temples, it was chakra. Hinatas to be precise.

"What?" I asked sitting up and letter her hands fall from my forehead.

"Geez Forehead. Way to scare me, you just fainted out there." Ino said her tone was joking but her eyes were worried.

"You okay Sakura?" Kakashi asked.

"Yeah, I don't know what happened." I told him. I could feel everyone's eyes on me, the light from the fire flickering across their faces.

Hang on fire?

"What time is it?" I asked alarmed, I looked around and saw that they had set up camp. Roll mats and sleeping bags were scattered around a small clearing.

"A few hours. We saw you faint and decided to find a place to set up camp. A few of us went back to the Temple. We saw three men leave but didn't interact, we wanted to hear what you found."

"Not much. I stumbled across those men talking. They were on about finding a girl and taking her to someone, probably their boss. Then they said something about taking over our world."

"How original." Shino said dryly, "I sent some of my bugs to follow them, just in case." He added as an afterthought.

"By the way, you have some explaining to do." Ino said poking my cheek.

"Yeah," Naruto's voice said from the other side of the fire, "How do you know so much about magic, Sakura-Chan?"

 _This is going to be a long night_ I groaned mentally, preparing myself to tell them my story. It was only right that they know, I mean any information we could gather from my past would be a big help.

 **(A/N sorry it's taken so long for me to upload, I've been busy and haven't had time to write. Thank you so much for the comments by the way, I'm so glad you like it** **J** **It won't be long until the gang crosses into Earth Land** **J** **see you soon)**


	8. Chapter 8

Breathing deeply I began to tell my friends my story, I had asked them to save any questions for when I finished speaking because I didn't want to be interrupted and lose my place.

"I guess I start at the beginning. Well the first thing I can remember is my older brother, Natsu, and I being found in the forest by Igneel. I don't know how we got there or why we were there, I was only three and Natsu was five so I have always assumed that our birth parents didn't want us or something.

Anyway Igneel found us in the forest and decided to take us in. He wasn't exactly what you call your typical foster parent as he was a dragon –ah Naruto no interrupting- and he started to teach us an ancient type of magic called Dragon Slayer Magic. My brother and I specialise in Fire Dragon Magic as Igneel was a fire dragon. There are other types of dragons but I'll get into that another time. So Igneel taught us how to use fire magic, skip about a year later I'm four and Natsu is six, we were further away from the clearing because Igneel was in a bad mood and didn't want to be disturbed, Natsu was helping me perfect a spell that I was having trouble with." A small smile found its way to my face at the memory, "He was so proud when I mastered it, he told me that Igneel would want to see straight away, so we headed home." My smile fell, "He wasn't there, now Dragons aren't exactly small. They're massive so he wasn't hiding and he always told us if he had business to attend to, so Natsu knew straight away something was wrong.

I can't remember what happened next exactly but somehow we found our way to Magnolia and the Fairytail's Master, Makarov, took us in. It was nice, we made friends with other kids there, Lisanna-one of my friends- taught me how to cook and Erza- another friend- taught me how to use a sword. Natsu ad Gray (his best friend) always said it was weird that a small girl like me could handle a sword. Anyway on my fifth birthday everything took a change for the worst." I could feel myself wringing my hands together nervously.

"I had just blown out the candles and been given a photo album full of pictures when the door flew open, we tried to move because the people who came in just screamed evil, you know? But we couldn't move, it wasn't a magic we knew. I realise now it was a genjutsu mixed with magic but at the time we had no clue how to deal with it. Some of the greatest Mages in Earth Land were stuck in place by three unnamed people. It was scary, especially when the woman of the group grabbed hold of me and started to pull me away. I can still remember everyone screaming at her to let me go. Natsu was shouting the loudest saying "Let my baby sister go!" and shouting my name. But then they were gone and I was being pulled along by one of the kidnappers.

He was probably the scariest because he didn't say much but he was so strong, he would pull me along and hit me if I didn't do what they said. His name was Zaffe. The other guy was called Juno. God he was a creep, kept edging up to me and finding excuses to touch my hair and stuff. But Larsa? The woman was crazy, one minute she'd be screaming at the men for treating me roughly and the next she would hug me and tell me everything's okay."

"What did they want?" Neji asked then he looked shocked because he obviously didn't mean to say it out loud, "Sorry, I didn't mean to interrupt."

"I asked her at one point, before she put me to sleep, she said she wanted a daughter and her husband, the leader of the group wanted a test subject. They took me to the place they were staying, it wasn't even a village, and there was one big house where Onyx- the leader- and Larsa lived with family and close friends and a few houses and shops where their goons lived.

Onyx had apparently found out that there were other worlds where Magic didn't exist but in its place were other forces, like Chakra. He wanted to see if he could blend chakra with magic, make attacks stronger, more dangerous I suppose. He had managed to infuse a few spells, only simple ones, with the small amount of chakra he had. And he taught that to Larsa who had used it on Fairytail to grab me.

But he wanted to be able to use stronger spells with more chakra. So he thought that it would be a good idea to start young, find a young Mage with potential and train them. His wife also wanted a daughter so the test subject had to be a girl." I took a sip of water that Kakashi handed to me before continuing.

"They heard about Natsu and me and figured I'd be perfect. Onyx and his goons treated me like shit, beating me when I didn't do things right, he told Larsa that I was clumsy- that I was constantly falling over or running into things and she believed him" I scoffed, the woman had been blind, "I managed to mix a small bit of chakra with a 'Fire Dragon Roar' but it made me sick, as soon as I completed the spell I fainted. Didn't wake up for a few hours. But they kept making me do it, I was out cold for longer stretches of time after each attempt. Eventually I got fed up and snuck out. Larsa and Onyx were out on a date and his goons were asleep, I wasn't a threat to them so why bother keeping an eye on me? Anyway I ran for hours until I found a small church on the outskirts of a village I can't remember the name of. I think I must have fallen asleep in there but when I woke up I was in this world.

The Harunos found me on their way from a mission and brought me back to Kohona. I told them about my world and about my family and I even showed them a bit of magic to make them believe. The Hokage asked them to adopts me and enrol me in the academy, and they were more than happy to do that. And now here I am." I finished lamely not sure of what to say next.

I looked around the fire at my friends faces ad saw a mmix of emotions. Sympathy, anger and confusing.

"Why did you never tell us?" Naruto asked his voice was softer than usual.

"I never saw a reason too. And besides id been told not to tell anybody. I'm sorry." I told him hanging my head.

"Have you ever used magic on a mission before?" Kiba asked his eyes curious,

"Once by accident. There was a fire at a small hospital I was helping out and I ate the fire not realising what I was doing at the time. It just came naturally to me." I shrugged.

"You ate fire?" Choji asked his eyes wide.

"Yeah, I can eat most fires, except my own. It replenishes my energy."

"That's actually quite cool." Ino said her voice full of wonderment, "Can we see you use magic?"

I laughed a little, "I have a feeling you will see it soon."

"I think we need to start thinking about the mission now." Kakashi said throwing me a smile (you tell when he smiles, his eye kind of crinkles upwards)

"Your right." Sasuke said. It was the first thing he's spoken since I woke up, I had almost forgotten he was here.

"You said there were people in the temple?" Ino directed the question at me.

"Yeah, three men. Two twins apparently called Cam and Len, I don't know what magic they use. Both look exactly the same apart from a streak of colour in their hair. Len has a light blue streak and Cam has an orange streak." I reeled of automatically giving the any information I could remember, "They were talking about finding a girl and delivering her o someone before they took over our world."

"How original." Shino said dryly.

"You said three. Who was the other one?" TenTen asked, she was sharpening some kunai and didn't look up.

"The other was Zaffe."

"You mean one of your kidnappers?" Lee asked a bushy eyebrow arched.

"The very same. He has gold eyes and black hair, he's not one to be messed with." I mumbled, feeling dread form in the pit of my stomach.

"The sooner we figure out how to get to Earth Land the better." Sasuke said, "For now we sleep. We will investigate the Temple tomorrow hopefully those guys won't be in there."

After a series of 'goodnights' were exchanged everyone settled down to sleep.

I don't know if it's because I had just been unconscious or if I was worried about what would happen, but I couldn't drift off. I found myself starring at the stars and wondering how Natsu was.


	9. Chapter 9

"I've never seen anything like this before." Ino breathed as we entered the rounded hall of the Temple. We had waited for the three Mages to leave before entering the ruin. They obviously thought highly of themselves as they had set no traps, either that or their incredibly stupid.

"Is that what dragons actually look like?" Lee asked his eyes wide beneath his bushy brows.

The walls were covered in paintings of dragons, from Fire Dragons to Sky dragons.

"They're bigger in real life. But I think they are extinct now." I told him sadly. My eyes scanned the room and then a chill ran up my spin. "I've been here before."

Shika looked over his shoulder at me, "What do you mean?"

"I think this is the temple I woke up in. It would explain how I was so close to Kohona." I said my hand trailing along the wall as I walked, a flash of red caught my eye and saw myself staring into the eyes of the dragon that raised my brother and me, "Igneel." I breathed, a hand coming to rest on his painted chest.

"That's Igneel?" Hinata asked coming to stand next to me, "He looks… Scary."

"Oh he was. But he had a kind heart." I told her fondly, my own heart ached to see him and my brother again. Wat would Natsu think of me coming back? Does he think I'm dead? Did they search for me? _Don't be stupid of course they searched for you, they were-_ are - _your family._

Shaking my head free of those thoughts I turned to face the centre of the room, "I don't get ow were supposed to go from here to there." I said.

"Maybe we should have researched more." TenTen said sullenly kicking a pebble and twirling a kunai in her hand.

"Do you remember anything else about coming here? Did you do anything before you fell asleep?" Neji asked, his lavender eyes piercing me.

"I don't remember-"a memory hit me, "Actually I remember being cold so I made a fire, I was sat in the middle of the room like this," I sat cross-legged in the centre of the room and the others followed my lead, "And I made a small flame." I cupped my hands and felt a flicker of heat surge through my fingertips, I squashed a smile at the 'oohs' my friends made at the sight of the flames.

"What next?" Naruto asked his voice hushed.

"I fell asleep. But only after doing a trick Natsu taught me, he used to do it to entertain me. He called it the Cherry Blossom Flame." As I said the spells name, I threw my hands into the air and watched as formed tiny cherry blossom petals and flowers, then they did something I don't remember happing when Natsu did it. Instead of falling to the ground and going out like they should have, the fire petals danced towards the ceiling, getting brighter and brighter the further they went.

"Is that supposed to happen?" Kiba asked stifling a yawn. I felt my eyes grow heavy as I shook my head, I was trying to say no but it was too much effort. As though someone had flicked a switch, we all slumped to the ground and fell into a deep sleep.

XxXxXxX Sometime Later XxXxXxX

I woke up to a bright light shining down on me, scrunching my eyes together I rolled over and came into contact with another body. Whoever it was they wrapped an arm around m waist and pulled me closer. _Mm pine trees and sandalwood,_ I thought as I borrowed closer, I could safely say this was a man. A man with muscles. A smile crept onto my face and then disappeared. I shouldn't be cuddling someone!

I was awake in an instant, jumping to my feet and pulling out a kunai. A few seconds passed and I realised I was in no immediate danger. I glanced down and saw that Sasuke (Sasuke!) was patting the space next to him, where I had previously been laying, with a frown on his face.

 _Was I just cuddling with Uchiha? Did he seriously cuddle back?_ The questions ran around my head, but one that kept popping up was _Did I like it?_ Yes, yes I did. But I won't admit it out loud. Maybe in my younger days I would have been squealing like a guinea pig on helium but now? Not so much.

Reaching down I shook the duck-butt awake, feeling a little bit guilty as he had looked so adorably innocent and content. As the others started to stir I decided to take a look around.

We were no longer in the ruins, but in a pristine building with large stained glass windows and high ceilings. Thrill ran through me.

"Where are we?" Naruto's groggy voice asked and I span on my heel to face him, a large grin eating my face.

"Kardia Cathedral! We're in Earth Land! In Magnolia!" I all but shouted, I felt like I could burst, "Fairytail is around here, it won't be long before we can make the alliance!"

"Who gave her sugar?" Shika groaned, he was still on his back an arm flung across his eyes in an obvious attempt to shut the world out. It clearly wasn't working.

"Nara, get up." Kakashi said as he walked around, his head thrown back to look at the ceiling.

"The architecture is amazing." Shino stated. TenTen nodded her head in agreement.

"Where do we start?" Choji asked sanding his hands together.

"I need to find Natsu." I said, I was talking to myself, "I can't wait to see him!"

"Sakura," Kakashi said, his voice tender, "I know this means a lot to you but we're here on a mission." It felt like a slap in the face. This was my chance to finally see the family I had been ripped away from, it was my chance to hg my big brother one more time. Couldn't they see how important this was for me? Why couldn't they be happy?

"I understand that, but the last time I saw my Family was when I was being taken away from them. The last memories I have of my big brother are him screaming my name. So excuse me for being happy that I get to see him again." I could feel tears welling up.

"I didn't mean it like that." Kakashi said reaching to brush a stray tear away. I jerked out of his way and brushed past the others.

"I suggest that we scout the area. Make sure there aren't any people with the same mark as those guys back in or world." I said, remembering the guild tattoos we had seen on the twin terrors and Zaffe while we were waiting for them to leave. A Snake curling itself around a sword.

"Good plan. We have to blend in though, don't want to raise any concern or bring attention to ourselves." Sasuke said, I could feel his eyes on me.

"I think there's a clothes store down the road. But we don't have currency from this world. They use Jewels not Yen" I told them.

"Why don't we find Fairytail and just get it over with. They might be able to help us come up with a plan. It saves all this messing around." Shikamaru said in a bored tone.

"Vote?" Ino suggested flicking her long blonde hair over her shoulder.

"No point. Nara's right, we might as well save messing around." Sasuke said. Everyone nodded in agreement and headed for the door.

I held my breath, for the first time in twelve years I would see my home.

 **(I know this ones short but hopefully the next one will be better :) Thank you for the lovely comments by the way, I'm so glad your enjoying this as much as I am enjoying writing it.)**


	10. Chapter 10

"This place is so weird." Ino breathed as we wandered down the streets. We had decided to hide our weapons and act like tourists.

This included us girls linking arms and pointing at random things while the boys trailed behind us acting like normal teenagers. Well, trying at least.

We weren't attracting tonnes of attention, just a few stares here and there and a couple of humouring smiles.

"Come on, Freeze-Brain, Lucy's already at the guild." A deep voice rumbled across the street. It was similar to Naruto's in a way. You could hear the smile in the person's voice, and it held a childlike quality.

It was Natsu.

The team stopped around me and I had to steal myself from running over and hugging the pink-haired boy.

I took a step forward but a hand on my shoulder stopped me. Looking over at Kakashi I raised an eyebrow. Why was he stopping me?

He answered my unspoken question, "We need to focus on the mission. As soon as we talk to them about the alliance you can tell him. I'm sorry Sakura. But our world is at risk."

He was right. If we didn't stop Onyx and his goons who knew what would become of our world? Ninjas couldn't fight magic, especially if he had figured out how to infuse chakra into spells without knocking the user out.

I only nodded, not trusting myself to speak.

An arm, clad in orange and black, swung over my shoulders, "Don't worry, you'll talk to them soon." _He's just full of surprises._ I thought looking up at a grinning Naruto, _Damn him for getting taller._ Something in the back of my head said. It had just dawned on me that I was the shortest on the team. How had I only just noticed? Why was I noticing this? _You're trying to distract yourself._

Oh great I was talking to myself again.

We were crossing the street now, my heart racing. Control, Sakura, I scolded. Mission first and then hugs from big brother. _That's if he remembers you._

Of course he remembers me. He's my big brother.

 _They probably think you're dead. They might think that you're an imposter._

SHUT UP! I bit my lip to stop from screaming out loud.

"It reminds me of the Hokage Tower a little bit." Hinata said, we were stood just outside the front doors of the Guild. It was two stories tall and just like I remembered it.

"Hey! Your right, Hina-chan." Naruto grinned. _Hina-Chan? Defiantly something going on between them two. If there isn't I will make it happen! CHA!_

Oh great, Inner was making a comeback. I can't remember the last time I had said 'CHA'

"I think its best if I stay at the back of the group. Just in case one of them recognises me. I doubt it, but not many people have pink hair." I mumbled moving to stand next to Sasuke.

"You'll be fine." Sasuke said quietly, "They will remember you. You're hard to forget. Trust me." I don't think he meant for me to hear the last part but I felt my heart swell a little bit.

 _Did he think of me while training with Orochimaru? Did this mean he liked me? Do I want him to like me?_

That didn't matter at this moment in time. What mattered was getting my arse in there, sort this alliance out and then spending time with my family.

I watched as Kakashi-Sensei pushed the large wooden door open. We were met by loud voices and laughter that instantly cut of when they noticed us.

Maybe we should have knocked first. Twelve stranger bursting in on a Guild is probably the same as someone bursting into Tsunade's office during a meeting. A big No-No.

"Hi, we're-"Kakashi began but was cut off by a loud "Hey!" from Natsu who was pushing away from a table near the bar.

I blanched, I didn't want conflict and if he was as much like Naruto as I assumed then my brother would cause some serious damage unless we explained what we were doing. ASAP.

"Who are you and what do you want?" Natsu said, his loud voice echoing through the Guild.

"If you let him finish he would have told you by now!" Naruto shouted back. We all groaned in unison, they were going to have it out.

"Well who are you then Blondie?" Natsu shrieked at Naruto. They were in each other's faces now.

A blonde girl who had been at the table Natsu had stood up from made a sound of protest, "What's wrong with blonde?"

"Well, are ya gonna tell me? Or am I gonna have to beat it out of you?" My brother growled and noticed his right hand was engulfed in flames.

"As if you could beat me!" Naruto gloated puffing his chest out. Oh dear, it was happening, they were going to fight. The Guild hall will be reduced to ashes in no time unless someone stepped in. Opening my mouth to tell them to stop, a furious voice screamed Natsu's name.

Everyone in the room froze, looks of terror etched onto their face.

"What's she doing back?" a voice asked. I recognised it as Macao's, a man that I remembered laughing at my jokes and showing me his purple flames.

"Must have finished the quest already." A voice belonging to Cana Alberona. She had been one of Natsu's friends and had certainly grown up quickly, I noted taking in her blue bikini top. She was leaning against a barrel full of alcohol.

"Natsu," the voice from before said, "What are you doing?" I turned to see Erza Scarlet stalking towards the glowering boys. She hadn't changed one bit. Still as scary as before, just how I had liked her.

When I was younger she would teach me how to fight with swords and if I did well she would share some of her strawberry cheesecake with me, granted she would kill anyone who dared to touch her favourite dessert without permission. She would dote on me and then turn to snap at the boys.

"These weirdos just barged in. Blondie over her is just begging for me to knock him senseless." Natsu said, he cowered only a moment before motioning to Naruto.

"Did it occur to you they might need help?" Erza asked a hand going to rest on a well armoured hip.

Natsu mumbled, "Say that again." Erza pressed.

"No. Sorry Erza." Natsu said sheepishly.

Erza turned to face us, her bright red hair swinging behind her, "I apologise for that idiot, I'm Erza, and you are?"

Kakashi sweat dropped, he was obviously comparing her Tsunade, "Im Kakashi and this is my team, we came here to discuss a matter of upmost importance with your leader."

"Master Makarov isn't here at the moment." A sweet voice said, and a beautiful girl with long white hair came to stand next to Erza. It took me a moment to recognize her as Mirajane Strauss. She was a far cry from how I remembered her, when I was younger everyone referred to her as the 'Demon Woman' and she's had a fierce rivalry with Erza, she was Lisanna's older sister.

"We need to speak with him, or whoever's I charge." TenTen said, her voice conveying urgency.

"Maybe Erza or I could be of assistance." Mira said kindly. That was going to take some getting used to. Suddenly I felt eyes on my, Kakashi was looking at me as if to say, 'can we trust them?'

I nodded discreetly and zoned out as they discussed where was best to hold the conversation.

The guild hadn't changed much, a few new faces here and there and definitely some refurbishments. Probably due thanks to Natsu and Gray's fighting.

Speaking of the Ice-mage he was sat next to the blonde girl from earlier. _Still has that stripping problem. At least there's something to look at now._ That was true, Gray Fullbuster had definitely grown up, he was sporting some muscles now but not as many as Elf-Man (the third Strauss sibling) over there. Gray wasn't my type though, and besides I used to think of him as family, it would be weird if I fancied him.

 _You're only saying that because you still like Duck-butt._

Choosing to ignore that thought I hurried after my team as they started to walk towards the library I had heard mentioned a couple of times.

"They seem nice." I heard a girl say, probably that blonde girl, awkwardly.

"If you say so." Natsu replied and I wanted nothing more than to turn around and launch myself at him for a hug.

"So what did you want to discuss?" Erza said. Straight to the point as usual.

"An alliance." Sasuke said evenly.

"What's your guild? I don't see any Guild marks." The red-head said raising an eyebrow, despite her earlier words she didn't trust us one bit.

"We're not part of a Guild." Shika threw in carelessly as he sat down in a chair and rested his head on his hand, "Not even from this world."

"Shikamaru!" Ino yelled, pissed that he had said it outright.

"What do you mean?" Mira said, she was shocked but willing to listen.

"We're from a world that lies parallel to yours. We don't have magic we have chakra. Instead of Mages we have Ninja." Hinata said calmly, she and Mira seemed to have similar personalities.

Mira's mouth formed an 'O' shape, "I've read about that somewhere, I didn't think it was true."

"Prove it." Erza cut in.

"Neji." Kakashi said simply, we had agreed that if we needed to Neji would demonstrate Chakra. Nodding the Hyuga formed some hand signs and disappeared in in a poof of smoke only to re-appear further in the library.

"That could have been teleportation magic." Ever the critic, Erza was.

"Fine," Kakashi said and looked as me, "Channel chakra into your hand." I noticed he didn't say my name.

"Hai." Doing as he said I watched as my mint green chakra glowed around my fist, "Can you tell how its different to magic?" I said, not lifting my eyes from my fist.

"Yes." Erza breathed, her brown eyes wide, "Its strange." She concluded.

"Moving on," Mira said, "Why do you need to form an alliance?"

"Because," Kiba spoke shifting his weight, "Some Mages have found a way to our world and are planning on taking over. We don't exactly have the experience to fight them."

"Do you know if they are from a Guild?" Mira asked.

This time it was Choji who spoke up," I noticed a tattoo on one of their arms. It was a snake wrapping itself around a sword." I had seen it too, while we were waiting for them to leave.

The girls tensed and waited a moment before Erza said, "That mark belongs to the Snake Slayers."

"Again with the snakes. What's with evil people and snakes?" Naruto asked, earning a glare from Sasuke and a slap on the head from Kakashi.

"So you've heard of them?" Lee said innocently.

"Someone close to us was taken by them. We spent years tailing them." Mira said her voice sad and I felt sick. If I had stayed put would they have found me? Or would have been dead long ago?

I felt Naruto's gaze flicker over to me for a split second, "Did you find whoever they took?"

"No." Gray's voice said from behind, we whirled round to see Natsu, the blonde and Gray walking through the library doors. _What kind of ninjas are we if we didn't even hear them coming?_

"Could she still be out there?" Kiba pondered and instantly clamped his mouth shut. They hadn't mentioned gender.

Suddenly Kiba was being pushed up against a wall, "How did you know?" Natsu said, fire in his eyes, "How did you it was girl who went missing?"

"Natsu, calm down." The blonde said hurrying to peel the pink-headed boy from Kiba. Kiba could have easily avoided him; could have pushed him away, but obviously thought it better not to start a fight.

"I guessed." The dog-nin ventured, deliberately not looking at me.

God this was killing me. I looked pleadingly at Kakashi as Erza told the Mages off for listening in.

"And you Lucy." Ah so that's the blondes name. It was pretty, "I thought you would know better, this was serious stuff."

"But we can help, we can revenge on the Snakes for taking her." Natsu's voice was determined.

"She's gone Natsu. Twelve years is a long time." Mira's voice was soft and I couldn't take it anymore.

"Natsu." My voice wasn't my own, it was small and weak so I tried again. "Natsu."

Something in my voice must have registered in their minds because Natsu, Erza, Gray and Mira turned to look at me wide eyed.

"What did you say your names were?" Lucy asked, looking between the four of them and me.

"We didn't." Shika said, and then started pointing all of us out, "I'm Shikamaru. That's Ino, TenTen, Hinata, Neji, Choji, Shino, Lee, Naruto, Sasuke, Kakashi and-"he trailed off.

"I'm Sakura."


	11. Chapter 11

"No." Natsu breathed, his eyes broke my heart. "No, she's gone. They took her. You're not her!" His voice had turned into a growl.

I knew, deep down, I knew this would happen. Who was I kidding? I couldn't just waltz back into their lives they all thought I was dead.

"It's me. I'm your little sister and you're my big brother." I was trying not to sob. My team had stepped back enough to give me room but they were close enough for me to feel their support.

"Sakura Dragneel was taken twelve years ago. She hasn't been seen or heard for since. Trust me, we searched." Erza said tightly.

"If this is some kind of joke I will freeze you all to oblivion." Gray threatened.

"Gray," I said pleadingly, "It's me. It really is!"

Tears fell freely now and I was hugging myself. Why couldn't they see?

"Please believe me!" I yelled, "You have to believe me." I fell to my knees and Shika was suddenly crouched next to me, he stared up at the disbelieving faces.

"Twelve years ago a little girl was found in the forest outside our village .No more than five with pink hair and bright green eyes. She had nothing, just the clothes she was wearing and a picture." The picture! I had brought the picture, it was tucked into the hidden pocket in my top. Shika paused for a moment and Sasuke spoke up, his low voice echoed around the room.

"She was taken to our Hokage who sent a search party out for her family. No one was found. A couple took her in, the Harunos, they entered her in the academy and raised her as their own."

Naruto's voice, unusually serious, chimed in, "She had trouble fitting in. She didn't recognise any of the maps she was shown. Didn't know and of our world history. Hell, I knew more than and that's saying something."

Next was Ino, her voice proud as she lay a hand on my head, "Once her parents found her sitting in a lit fireplace. But she wasn't being burnt, she was giggling and playing with the flames like a baby would with water in a bath."

"She wasn't using chakra. She hardly had any to use. She explained to her parents and the Hokage that she was using magic. And that her brother and father had taught her how. "That was Hinata.

"That girl?" Kakashi said finally, "That girl was Sakura." He nodded to my sobbing form.

My chest hurt from all the crying I was doing. I was a mess.

"That doesn't mean anything!" Natsu yelled, "For all we know you made it up! Sakura, my baby sister, is dead."

I closed my eyes, I wanted to curl up and never move again. My big brother thought I was dead even though I was right in front of him. It hurt more than my team leaving me.

"I'm not dead!" I screamed, "I'm right here."

"Then prove it." Gray's voice was as cold as his ice-magic. I glanced around the room. Through my tears I could see my team were agitated by show of emotion and the fact that they were caught in the middle of some serious drama. Lucy looked sorry for me her brown eyes were trained on me and I could see tears forming.

I fumbled for the photo and held it out to them. Mira took the photo in her hands carefully and the others looked over her shoulders, I could tell that they still weren't convinced when the boys looked at me with hard eyes.

"If that doesn't prove, does this?" I asked through gasps for breath. I really needed to stop crying.

Deciding use the Cherry Blossom Flame spell to prove to my family I was who I said I was. Only Natsu and I knew how to cast it properly.

Unlike back in the temple, the flaming cherry blossom petals fell towards the floor, and the sparks danced against the ground for a few seconds before disappearing.

"Kura-chan." Natsu's voice was only slightly above a whisper.

Before I could blink he was on his knees in front of me pulling me for a hug. I could feel his sobs and he buried is head in my hair, "I thought you were dead." He kept saying it over and over.

My I reached a hand up and stroked his hair, "I'm here. I'm alive. I missed you so much." I burst into another round of tears and my brother pulled me closer.

"Sakura." A choked voice said and I lifted my head from Natsu's shoulder to see Gray standing still with tears running down his cheeks.

"You're still wearing clothes." I tried to joke but it came out a garbled mess.

I looked over and saw that Erza and Mira where crying as well.

"Maybe we should give them some space." I heard Lucy say and she ushered my team out of the room, "Can I get you guys any refreshments?" theirs voices grew muffled as they walked away.

Natsu still hasn't let go of me, and I honestly didn't mind. I could stay like this forever. I had my brother back.

"Oh Sakura." Erza said before she flung herself at Natsu and I. This sparked Mira and Gray to join the hug as well.

"I'm so sorry." I whispered, "I'm sorry I was away so long, I wish I had come back sooner."

"You're here now, that's all that matters." Gray said his lips pressed to my temple.

"I'm never going to lose you again." Natsu said firmly, pulling back just enough to look me in the eyes, "No one is taking you from me ever again."

More tears followed and I clung tighter to my family.

"I think we should tell the others." Mira sniffled. Meaning that I should announce my return to the rest of the Guild, "Wait till Master hears!"

"A few more minutes. I only just got her back." Natsu whispered.

This is the second time I've seen my brother cry.

 **(A/N This one is kinda short because of all the emotion in it. I hope you all liked it and it met your expectations.**

 **There will be action soon, just bare with me I'm not the best at writing fight scenes.**

 **thank you so much for reading by the way, it means a lot to me :) ! )**


	12. Chapter 12

The main hall of the Guild was filled with familiar faces and ones I had yet to meet. There were smiles and tears, laughter and cheers and plenty of hugs.

I was currently sat between Natsu and Grey who were telling me stories of what had happened lately. But my mind was so full of everything that had happened so far that I couldn't process anything.

"Haruno-san." Shino's voice floated into my thoughts and I snapped my head up to face him, "We need to discuss what to do now. In private."

"Hai, Of course, I apologise for being o unprofessional." I said standing up and throwing a smile to my brother and his friend, "I'll be back in a few minutes." I said kindly and followed Shino to a quiet room at the back of the guild.

"Finally, Sheesh way to keep us waiting Forehead." Ino said but she had a kind smile on her face and I knew that she was happy for me.

"I'm sorry, but I'm here now and we need to discuss the task at hand." I told them firmly turning towards the group, "What is it you had in mind?" I asked Kakashi who was stood to my left.

"How did you? You know what never mind." He started, "I was thinking that we would attract less attention as a smaller group in this world. One group stays here and learns how to work with the Wizards and the second group goes home and monitors the dark-guild members. We know what to look for now at least."

"Who would go and who would stay?" Neji asked his violet eyes turning towards my oldest teacher.

"Sakura would stay for definite, she can act like a mediator since she knows this world better than we do. On that note the rest of team seven, myself, Sasuke and Naruto would stay." Kakashi paused and looked around the room weighing up his options,

"Nara, Hinata and Kiba will stay also and the rest, Choji, Lee, Neji, Ino, Shino and TenTen, will be going home to monitor the comings and goings of the dark-guild. Understood?"

We chorused our agreement and then Hinata put her hand up, "I was just wondering how the others will get home?"

"Good question." Kakashi-sensei said after a moment of silence passed.

"I could go to the cathedral with them and do what we did to get here." I suggested.

"Yes but then you would go with them." Shika said resting his head on his hands. It was a classic sign that he was thinking (or day dreaming).

"They have an extensive library." Neji said suddenly, "Surely they have something about cross world travel. The girl with white hair.

"Mira." I piped up

"Mira said she had read something about our world, didn't she?"

"Yeah, surely they would let us have a look and if nothing comes up Sakura can travel back with us and then come back." Ino said her blue eyes flickering around the room, various nods rippled around the room.

"Great, we will ask them for use of their library and if that fails then Sakura-Chan can take us home like the Youthful Blossom of Spring she is!" Lee yelled.

"The only problem with our back up is that you're forgetting we were asleep when we came here. Something in that magic caused us to sleep and it took us kami knows how long to wake up." Shika said, "Who knows if it will have some kind of adverse effect on Sakura?"

Sasuke grunted in agreement and Naruto's face became dark at the prospect of putting me in danger. I fought the urge to roll my eyes, I still hadn't forgotten how they made me feel when they left.

Kakashi spoke up, his voice final, "We ask for use of the library and take it from there in baby steps. I doubt they will refuse if Sakura-Chan asks, they adore her."

Just then a faint change in the atmosphere had me tensing, I hadn't realised it before but the way everything smelt suddenly came into sharp focus and something beneath the 9somehow) familiar scents of my friends smelt off.

"Something isn't right." Kiba said sniffing at the air his eyes connected with mine, "You smell it as well don't you? It smells wrong."

I nodded in answer and my hand wandered to my weapons pouch, "Shino send some bugs to scout the area see how far the threat goes."

"How do you know it's a threat?" TenTen asked.

"It smells like one." Is all Kina said as he advanced towards the door. He held up three of his fingers and counted down before he threw open the door.

We went straight into action when we saw the door of the Guild was bulging as though it was breathing, something was pushing it from the outside.

"I can't hear anything." Kiba said cocking his head to the side, I listened as well and whatever was out there wasn't making a sound.

"Split up and protect the guild, we need to make sure everyone is safe" Kakashi ordered and we followed.

I headed towards Natsu and vaguely noticed that Lucy was stood next to him, her hands on a set of keys and her face determined. If I didn't like her before I did now, she look so confident in protecting my brother, even if he didn't need it.

"Kura-Chan get behind me." Natsu growled out sniffing at the air, "I don't want you hurt."

"Sorry Natsu I've been ordered to keep you safe, I won't be hiding." I said my voice hard and I refused to look at him in case I saw hurt flash across his features. I expected him to argue, to say that I'm the one who need protecting but he just laughed and said,

"Right, lets to this thing." Just as the silent threat burst though the wooden doors, sending splinters flying.

 **(A/N sorry I haven't update in a while and that this is really short its just I haven't been well and then I started college, I will try and make regular uploads from now on and they hopefully be longer than this, I just wanted to give you something and can I give a shout out to Sakusasu19 who sent me message that basically reminded me that I need to get my butt in gear and upload, thankyou all for reading and being patient with me :) I love you all )**


	13. Authors Note

Hi,

I'm sorry that I haven't uploaded in a while I've been going through a lot at home and college and haven't had time to do anything regarding my writing but I have decided to try again and re-do this story.

I love the idea behind this particular story line but I am not sure I like what I have written so far, so I'm going to re-write what's done and start again.

However, I will leave this up and post the new one under a different name. Sorry for being such an awful author and thankyou so much for reading.

Love you all xxx


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